Early surprises mark opening rounds of Agzamov Memorial in Uzbekistan

Honouring Uzbekistan’s first grandmaster

The 19^th Tashkent Open held in memory of Uzbekistan’s first grandmaster, Georgy Tadzhikhanovich Agzamov, has begun in the nation’s capital following an opening ceremony on Tuesday. The annual competition, which this year runs from 17 to 26 March, has attracted a large field of players and continues a tradition established in 2007 to honour one of Central Asia’s pioneering figures in professional chess.

The tournament is divided into two rating groups. Open A is reserved for players rated 2200 and above, while Open B is open to competitors rated below that mark. The total prize fund for this year’s edition stands at 80,000 US dollars. Games are played at a classical time control of 90 minutes for the entire game with 30-second increments from move one, with one round scheduled each day at 15:00 local time.

Georgy Agzamov, born in Tashkent in 1954, became the first grandmaster from Central Asia when he earned the title in 1984, having previously been awarded the international master title in 1982. A philologist by profession, he enjoyed a number of notable tournament successes during the 1980s, including first places in Belgrade (1982), Vršac (1983), Sochi (1984), Tashkent (1984), Bogotá (1984) and Calcutta (1986). He also finished second in Potsdam in 1985. Agzamov died tragically in 1986 following a hiking accident in Sevastopol. His peak Elo rating was 2590 on the January 1985 FIDE list.

Georgy Agzamov died tragically a few days before turning 32 years old

Three games by Agzamov

Find these games with Agzamov’s annotations translated to English on Douglas Griffin’s remarkable Soviet Chess History website

The main Open A section features a 101-player field, including 16 participants rated 2500 or higher. Armenian grandmaster Haik M. Martirosyan heads the starting list with a rating of 2626, followed closely by India’s Abhimanyu Puranik (2622) and Iran’s Pouya Idani (2615). Other leading contenders include S.L. Narayanan (2608), Pranav Anand (2602), Sanan Sjugirov (2599) and Brandon Jacobson (2598).

After the first two rounds, a group of 14 players has emerged with perfect scores. Among the early leaders are several lower-seeded participants. WGM Alua Nurman of Kazakhstan, seeded 36^th with a rating of 2378, has begun with two victories, as have Kyrgyzstani IMs Nikita Khoroshev (45^th seed, 2345) and Eldiyar Orozbaev (50th seed, 2327). At the same time, some of the main favourites have also made solid starts, with top seed Martirosyan, third seed Idani and fourth seed Narayanan all scoring 2 out of 2.

Top seed Haik Martirosyan | Photo: Uzbek Chess Federation

Standings after round 2

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…101 players

All available games

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